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There was a second of silence. Then Elti said, “Hold on, Rusp. I’m putting you through.”
A beat of quiet followed, then the voice he dreaded spoke. “What the hell did you do, Rusp?”
Chapter Eleven
“Good morning, my father.” Rusp plunged straight in. “We’ve been gigging on a Beonid station, which was also hosting an Earther theater show. Some destroyer captain named Nil apparently abducted a bunch of the human opera company’s Mataras. I caught him and his weapons commander hauling one of the singers to their destroyer. She was screaming and puking and crying for help. Sherv and I got her away from them and took off in our ship. Captain Nil told us he’d be coming after her. He claimed the empire had ordered him to kidnap all the women.”
While Rusp waited for the explosion from his father’s end, he let himself enjoy the shocked silence. It would have been worth a beatdown to see Ezrob’s face at that moment, he thought.
The explosion failed to come, but the careful control in his father’s tone told Rusp he would have enjoyed his expression. “You snatched an Earther woman from two destroyer officers?”
“Sherv helped.” He had to give credit where it was due. His Dramok had done an outstanding job considering his lack of military training. Rusp was proud of him.
“Rusp…Mother of All. Tell me exactly what you did.”
Rusp described the encounter, though he omitted mentioning the clan had slept with Irene earlier that night. He didn’t see what bearing it had on the situation. “We flew away, and they sent a couple of fighters after us. I fired a couple of warning shots, just to show I could so they’d keep their distance. I didn’t aim at them.”
“Mother of All.” More silence. Maybe Ezrob was gaping at his com in disbelief. Rusp tried to imagine what it would look like.
“My son…all right. Obviously, you were ignorant of the circumstances and wanted to protect the young woman.”
“Exactly.”
“But the destroyer captain told you what was going on, that he’d been ordered to collect the Earther females in order to rescue them from dangerous conditions on their home world.”
“I figured he had to be lying. I almost shot his and his pal’s dicks off for what it appeared they were doing to the Matara, but I figured the fleet would do worse when I filed a report.”
“Mother of All.” Ezrob was in a praying frame of mind. Rusp had never heard him so devout, which told him Kalquor was indeed doing the unthinkable. Rusp and Sherv were probably in deep shit for their actions. Maybe Jemi and the crew too.
“He was lying, wasn’t he? The empire wouldn’t order this.”
“Rusp, you are many things, but stupid isn’t one of them.”
A compliment. He’d have to mark this day. “I don’t want to believe we’re stooping to such a low.”
“Beyond the sentient rights abuses Earth commits against its women…have you heard they torture and execute them for minor offenses? Besides what the Earther Mataras face, the empire’s state of affairs is dire. You and your clan may be the next-to-the-last generation of Kalquorians. Someone on high has decided we have no choice.”
Rusp stared at the com. He’d known they were close to extinction. He hadn’t realized they werethatclose. Still, it made no sense. “Unless someone confirmed we and humans are compatible to procreate—”
“That’s exactly what happened. An Earther Matara was tested. We can produce offspring with their species. Because their world is so volatile on the subject, it was decided the fleet would grab those it can, the few who aren’t on their world.” Ezrob sighed. “The ground troops are obviously not involved in these abductions, thank the ancestors, but we’re on high alert in case Earth goes the route of armed retaliation rather than diplomacy.”
“This is…my father, it isn’t right. If you’d seen how they made Irene cry, how they terrorized her, you’d have fought them yourself.”
“I don’t doubt you did what you believed was ethical. However, the fleet has its orders, Rusp. If it helps, the women we’re taking will be sent to the highest-ranking clans. They’ll be worshiped as the saviors they are to our world, given the best of everything we can offer.”
“But they’re being given no choice. My father, they have families on Earth.” Irene’s desperate plea to return to her parents tugged Rusp’s heart. “Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers. You’re ripping them from those they love.”
“I don’t deny the circumstances are harsh. We’re hoping Earth will relax its stance where these Mataras are concerned and allow their families to visit them. What decent civilization wouldn’t?” Ezrob’s tone became more businesslike. “I need to consider your situation. It would go far if you turned around and gave up the woman you took. I can also intervene on your and Sherv’s behalf. You’d be arrested, but I doubt when the story is presented, you’d be charged. You thought you were helping.”
Return Irene to Nil? Force her to go to Kalquor against her will and join a clan she’d never met? Rusp’s gut curdled. He knew Earth was a horror to women it accused of crimes no advanced civilization counted as such, but she hadn’t been in immediate danger.
Besides, the idea of her clanned to other men was upsetting. His clan had been her first experience making love. She’d dared tremendous risk to do so. It meant something special to Rusp.
She’d chosen them. They hadn’t been chosenforher.
“I can’t take her to Captain Nil, my father. She doesn’t want to go to Kalquor. She wants to go home to her mother and father. I can’t force her against her wishes.”
* * * *
